~ My Journey

Tag Archives: Geography

Happy Mendez Academy Spring Break to all of you! That is the wonderful thing about homeschooling, you can take a Spring Break week WHEN YOU WANT TO. I have been waiting oh so impatiently for it to actually BE SPRING so we can have a real Spring Break! It’s finally sunny and warm-ish enough here, and I plan to spend as much of this week as I can just sitting outdoors! (After doping up on the necessary amount of allergy meds of course.)

I am enjoying this beautiful Sunday afternoon, and decided to catch up on some of my blogging work. And I realized I have over 50 “draft” postings that I started but never completed! Oops. So today, I thought I would get a little bit caught up!

We’ve been “notebooking” our way through World Geography for a semester now, and having THE BEST TIME. We have just left Europe finally, and will now spend a few weeks studying Russia! I’m not sure how much further we will get before
“school” ends for us for the summer – I really didn’t expect to spend months on Europe. But oh, we have had a blast! Be sure to check out my posts for more details!

If this is something you’re considering as well, I wanted to share with you some “world geography” resources I’ve found that might be helpful! Oh, and FREE (mostly).

First, when we start a new country, I Google it! I can’t imagine homeschooling without the Internet now. For example, I might search by “homeschool unit study”, or “__(country)__ notebooking homeschool”, or “__(country)__ lapbooking homeschool”. I might throw in the word FREE in there as well. Instant resources right at your fingertips!

And I’ve always loved homeschool bloggers, but now I LOVE homeschool bloggers, because they are so awesome and share everything they do, including their resources! Really, how great is it when others have done all the work and you can just copy it???

Then I check my running book list, put holds on the library books that I need, and then make a trip as soon as they are available to pick them up! While there, I tend to grab a librarian and start asking random questions, or try and track down certain tangents that popped in my head.

For example, we’re beginning to study about Russia. I had made a note to listen to Tchaikovsky months earlier when we got to this unit. He composed many of the most famous classical ballets. My girls are currently taking ballet, and love watching the Barbie movie versions of these. The Russian Ballet is one of the best and most famous in the world. Hmm, wouldn’t it be great if the girls could watch a video of the Russian ballet performing one of these particular ballets? So, I start trying to check resources at the library! Depending on how cool your particular librarians are, they can also be great at suggesting some out-of-the-box resources as well. (Unfortunately in this case, they are not that cool, and also don’t have any videos of the Russian ballet available. Hmmph. I’ll prevail, I just have to look harder elsewhere.)

Can you see why it’s taking us so long to get through World Geography now? I will have to do a bit better at this next year, or we’ll spend the next three/four years trying to complete it!

But in addition to all of that, here are some fabulous world geography-specific resources that I’ve come across as I began to research online resources. I hope it’s helpful!

We didn’t use much from the Madeline lapbook link, since much of it didn’t focus on the book and just a bit focused on the country. Instead we have been focusing on activities from the France lapbook below.

– Learn about Disco! Have a dance party to ABBA music! (“Clean” videos of “Dancing Queen” here and here.) My girls had a total blast with this! We danced to the music (I have the Mamma Mia Soundtrack because I used to be a musical theatre geek) and then we watched these videos on YouTube so they could see real Disco moves to the music!

Field Trip Ideas!

– Go to IKEA! Really! Eat in their cafeteria – order the Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, eat some of the pastries, and buy some lingonberry jam! (You can also make this more educational and learn about the company and the company founder.)

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The Proverbs 31 Woman (nasb)

Description of a Worthy Woman

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hands grasp the spindle.
She extends her hand to the poor,
And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She makes coverings for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.